Playing Games
by Papersak
Summary: The new Gamestation has two extra controllers, so more people can play. when Starfire asks to try it, Beast Boy gets an idea, only it's gonna take some work and a little bonding. Beastboy-Raven, some Robin-Starfire. One Shot, Semi-Plotless. Rewritten once


(okay for the incredibly few people who read this before this is the slightly changed version,now that I've FINALLY sen Switched. Which really clashed with "Fear Itself" in my opinion, but oh well. And I would also like to add, TITANS EAST SOOOO STOLE MY IDEA! This was written before that cam eout. If you have no Idea what I'm talking about, I mean the Gamestation 2. If you do not like the mentioned pairings in the summary, somewhat-random-mixed-cuteness, or what I like to call lighty-uppy-ness of dark characters, theeeen this may not be the bset fanfiction for you...)

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

One random afternoon, Beast Boy and Cyborg walked into the main room, with Cyborg proudly holding up a somewhat large box. Robin was watching TV with Starfire, and as expected, Raven was just reading.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Beast Boy started, "we're happy to announce, that after about an hour of searching, we JUST got..."

"THE GAMESTATION 2!" Cyborg finished. He ran in front of the TV to hook it up, tossing the old Gamestation aside to Beast Boy, who had problems catching it so fast and almost fell backwards. Robin shut off the TV so nothing would happen.

"What was wrong with the old one?" Raven asked in her usual tone.

"It didn't have enough controllers!" Beast Boy replied. "Now I don't hafta sit around waiting for Cyborg and Robin to finish playing before I can!"

Raven sighed, and closed the book. "I'm assuming it'll just get louder in here, so I'm going to my room." And with that she just walked out.

Beast Boy shrugged and walked over to Cyborg, who was still figuring out the huge mess of wires.

"Dude, what's taking so long?!" Beast Boy demanded.

"There's a ton of wires back here," Cyborg replied, "and HALF of these aren't even hooked up to anything! Where'd they come from?" He threw several random unused cords behind him, accidentally at Beast Boy, who soon moved from his position to avoid being tangled in wires.

About a half hour later, the brand new game system was ready. Now three controllers were hooked up instead of two, with one remaining socket for another controller. They had one, but they figured no one wanted to use it just yet.

"All right!" said Beast Boy, clicking on the "ON" switch. He, Robin, and Cyborg got onto the couch, each with competitive/ ready expressions on their faces. Starfire was still there, but watching from behind Robin.

And so a racing game started as the boys chose their cars. Each one had a car with colors resembling their uniforms, and they all began.

Cyborg's sky blue and white car (which was more of a ship) was in the lead, Robin in second, and Beast boy behind Robin, each about three inches away from each other. Beast Boy's car hit Robin, but it accidentally pushed him forward. Robin managed to bump Cyborg away and take the lead.

With the colors of the cars, it was easy to tell who was who. "Go, Robin!" Starfire cheered. "You are winning!"

Robin smiled from the support he had from her. And that's just how it ended; Robin in first, Cyborg in second, and Beast Boy in third.

Beast Boy sighed from being in last. "Guess with more people, I can't always end in second." But he shrugged and didn't care a lot; it was only the first time three people played at once.

The three played a few more races, each with mixed results (although normally Cyborg placed first), before Starfire took interest in the game.

"May I join your 'car racing game'?" She asked, looking directly at Robin.

In return he smiled at her. "Sure," he said, without thinking of the other two. They didn't care, anyway. Starfire sat next to Robin as Beast Boy got up and plugged in the fourth controller, then handed it to Starfire. Already, she was confused at how to hold it. She examined the dimensions of it, then finally looked at everyone else and figured out how to hold it.

"Here," Robin offered, as he began pointing to buttons, "this one starts the car... and this one is the brakes... and that stick moves your car around... and this is something for sharp turns... and this is one of the buttons Cyborg uses to cheat-"

"Hey! I don't cheat!" Cyborg interrupted. Of course, Robin was joking at that point, and all the guys knew it.

"Does he?" Starfire questioned.

"Nah, I didn't mean it." He resumed showing her about three more buttons.

Beast Boy stared at them, and although he didn't realize it, deep down he wished he could do something like that. That it must be nice knowing a girl who will listen, and actually takes interest in something you like. Of course, Starfire and Robin glaringly obviously like each other. Nah, Beast Boy was thinking something along the lines of a certain girl in need of lightening up by the name of-

"Yo, Beast Boy! You okay?" Cyborg said waving an arm in front of his face, interrupting his thoughts. Apparently he also didn't know how long he'd been staring.

"Huh?" Beast Boy started. "Oh, yeah, just waiting for him to finish. Let's race!"

As you'd probably think, Starfire didn't do so well in the first race. Her purple and silver car was in dead last, with Cyborg in first, Beast Boy in second, and Robin in third.

"I guess I should practice a little more," Starfire said, a little nervously, but smiling at the same time.

"It's okay," Robin assured her, "everyone's like that at first."

"Yeah!" Beast Boy agreed, grinning. "I mean, when I first played Cyborg, he was sooooo bad at it. This one time, he was trying to pick colors and then he ended up erasing the whooole-"

"WE GET, the picture," Cyborg interrupted. "And don't forget, you're the one who, the first time you played a fighting game, ended up killing yourself before I pushed any buttons."

"Heh, heh," Beast Boy said nervously, "I forgot about that..."

"Thank you, my friends!" Starfire exclaimed. "I wish to try to play this game again!"

"Okay," Beast Boy said, selecting the option on the game to do so.

After a while, Starfire no longer came in dead last. She was never able to pass anyone in third place, but she moved from finishing about almost a minute late to 10 seconds.

By that time, however, they had all been playing for over an hour straight.

"Whoo..." Cyborg sighed, "that was great..."

"My hands never felt this much pain from playing games before," Beast Boy said, examining his red fingers. He suddenly gained a smile. "That was awesome!"

"Guess we should start on dinner soon," Robin suggested, as he looked at a clock. It read "7:14".

"Because of your kindness," Starfire began, "I shall make you all a wonderful feast!"

"NO!" everyone yelled at once, then sweat dropping.

"I mean," Robin started, "at this point, we uh-"

"I understand," Starfire stopped him, "you are not familiar with Tamaranian foods." Robin nodded. That was pretty much the best way to put it.

"So," Beast Boy started, "what ARE we having?"

Cyborg thought for a moment. "Nothing with tofu in it..."

"Well, we're not having meat either!"

"Oh come on, just because you don't eat it doesn't mean-"

"Friends!!" Starfire exclaimed. "We should not fight! We should be deciding what we are going to eat!"

"Right..." Beast Boy half-apologized.

"Look," Robin started, "why don't we just order pizza?"

"As long as it's non-dairy cheese," Beast Boy stated.

"Argh..." Cyborg sighed.

"All right, then," Robin agreed. He walked over to a phone to pre-order it, Starfire following at first, but then deciding to return to her own room. Cyborg walked over to the game console to shut it off, at long last. And Beast Boy returned to his room.

- - - - - - - - - - -

About another half hour later, Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy were all watching TV, as Robin entered, kicking the door open, holding two pizzas.

"Sweet!" Beast Boy said, taking the top one. Cyborg took the other. Both of them opened it. Beast Boy had a pepperoni one, and Cyborg had some kind of fake vegetarian-like cheese. At the same time, both of them shut the boxes and tossed the other the right pizza, and then they took the boxes to the table. Robin and Starfire walked there as well.

As Beast Boy and Cyborg were eating their first slices of pizza as fast as possible and Robin was eating his normally, Starfire looked around with concern. "Where is Raven?" she asked.

"Pro-a-y... ih... er... oom" Beast Boy said, which was "Probably in her room," except with food in your mouth.

"Should someone let her know we are here?" Starfire asked again.

"Who?" said Robin.

"Anyone, I guess." She didn't really want Robin to go, but rather the other two. She tilted her head and looked at the fast pizza-eating boys across the table.

With that, Cyborg and Beast Boy looked at each other. Beast Boy sighed.

"I'll tell her," he said, trying to sound reluctant. In truth, he kind of wanted to.

He got out of his seat and walked to the hallway.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Beast Boy knocked softly on Raven's door, but there was no answer. "Raaaven!" he called, knocking louder. He started banging on the door. "Come on, they're gonna eat all the..." He realized no one was in there. "Forget it..."

_Now where's another place she might be,_ Beast Boy thought. It took him a few seconds before he thought: the roof. Of course. It was really quiet out there.

He walked up a set of stairs and to the roof. As he thought, there was Raven. She turned her head slightly as if to glare at him, without him actually knowing. She looked back at the sky in front of her.

"Hi, Raven," Beast Boy said, walking closer.

She just looked at him, as if that was her own unique way of returning the greeting.

Beast Boy smiled nervously. "Um... the other guys wanted me to let you know that we got a pizza and-"

"I'll be down there soon," she told him.

"Whatcha doing?"

"Nothing."

"So why don't you come down now?"

"Let me rephrase that: nothing that concerns you."

"It does, though," Beast Boy was kind of shocked he let that slip out so fast.

Raven was tempted to look at him, but instead, only her eyes followed where his voice was coming from. She sighed.

"Um... you can tell me," Beast Boy tried to say, "well, if you want to, I mean-"

"If you must know," she started, "this is just a quiet place. Where I THOUGHT I could get away from everything. Nothing else has been on my mind other than what normally is. You would know that," her voice grew annoyed, "thanks to the incident with my mirror."

"So you like... still think about your other emotions and that huge red guy with the long hair?"

"My father."

"Oh... yeah..."

"I don't willingly think about him. It's because of him I'm unable to feel anything without being careful."

"You can feel stuff just fine. You just have to accept it. That's all it takes to control your emotions... right?"

"Sometimes," she said, looking down. "But some of them I just don't want to let lose again."

"Like what?"

"Well," she thought for a moment, "obviously my anger causes destruction, sadness is just something I don't enjoy feeling... and that seems to come from..." she looked at him, then looked away.

"From what?"

"... it comes from love."

"Not always! I mean, sometimes is brings-"

"It brings rejection." She looked down barely enough for the wind to blow her hood over her head. "If you take chances like that, you will lose it. And it's better to have never loved... than to lose."

"No it's not!" Beast Boy said, moving just a little closer. He tried to see her face, but it was too dark. "I mean, I know it hurts cause," he paused, then reluctantly continued, "I've felt it before."

Raven thought for a moment. Still under her hood, she began, "Not like me." She shut her eyes tightly. "As annoying as you are, you're _like_ everyone else. Cyborg and Robin are always playing games, while your overly-cheerful attitude matches Starfire's. But I'm just... creepy. And after the only person who seemed to understand betrayed me, I thought... I didn't know what to..." She stopped for a few seconds.

"You could've always turned to me," Beast Boy suggested. "Or um, anybody. We're all your friends, Raven."

As a breeze blew by, Raven appeared to shiver. Beast Boy had some natural instinct to put his arm around her shoulders. But Raven wasn't cold; she was struggling not to cry.

She'd felt a few emotions at once that was causing this. The painful memories brought sorrow and disappointment, but at the same time she felt like she shouldn't let any of this out in front of someone.

A shadow covered the door, as if it was about to break off, explode, or both. The door began to bend and crack a little. Beast Boy noticed this, and then looked back at Raven. He forced her head up to face him. While her eyes are shut, there were a few small tears he could see from the dim light reflecting off the moon and stars. It almost hurt him, too, to see a good friend do of his in pain.

And because of that, he gave her a gentle hug, Raven returning it a little tighter, neither of them having the slightest clue they just did. All they cared about was the fact that it made them feel better. Even after they knew just what was happening, they didn't care.

Raven hugged back, happy nothing would interrupt them this time. Somehow the feeling of being in his arms calmed her down enough to handle her other emotions.

However the door ended up opening anyway, by Starfire. She had come to check on what was taking Beast Boy so long. Considering the door was black a few seconds ago, she creaked it open slowly. She took one look at the two of them and shut the door again. While Starfire had no idea what happened in that huge gap of time, she figured it'd be better not to interfere. She returned to Robin and Cyborg.

- - - - - - -

Starfire returned to Cyborg and Robin.

"What's happening?" Robin asked her.

"I am not sure," Starfire replied, thinking of how to put it, "Raven and Beast Boy were both there, and they were fine. I do not think we have anything to worry about." She smiled. She hoped no one would ask anything else, for she wasn't good at keeping many secrets. The only thing she knew about any type of relationship was that odds are, some people wouldn't want to be bothered about them, unless they were as open about things as she was. And while Beast Boy was social as well, Raven wasn't.

Robin and Cyborg looked at each other and sort of shrugged. Cyborg finished his fourth piece of pizza, while Robin was halfway through his third.

Beast Boy had come a few seconds later, grabbed his plate and an extra, put a slice of pizza on both (being the vegetarian pizza), and carried them away.

"Where are you going with those?" Cyborg asked, his mouth only temporarily empty as he was about to take a bite out of his next and almost last piece.

"Well uh," Beast Boy stared, trying to think quickly, "I think Raven wanted her food like... alone."

"All right, where are YOU going, then?"

"Um... with... her?" He sweat dropped.

Cyborg chuckled slightly, but he didn't want to rub it in. Well, actually he sort of did, but he decided not to anyway. Beast Boy resumed walking, taking the two slices of pizza. Well, actually he had two on his own plate, so that's three slices. Starfire smiled at the thought of the two of them being friends, but she didn't say anything.

- - - - - - -

And after that, he was back on the roof. Raven had calmed down much more than earlier. She had yet to smile but oh well.

"I got it, Raven," said Beast Boy. He handed one plate to her and kept the other. He sat down across from her. Both of them finished eating a little while later, and the night was growing darker. Beast Boy got up and took Raven's paper plate from her.

"I should probably go inside now," he said walking away.

Raven looked at the sky, then back at him. "Wait," she said, causing him to instantly stop. He turned to her. She flipped her hood up and walked to him. "Do you think maybe... you could be out here a little longer?"

Beast Boy smiled. "Really? Me? I mean... sure! Just gotta do something about this before I forget... I wouldn't really mind but people seem to have problems with messes." He walked inside and found the closest trash can possible and carelessly threw away the plates, then came back out.

Raven was still there. Beast Boy just thought it was kind of a pretty sight; the stars, the moon, a dark night sky, and Raven in front of him. He shook his head to snap out of it and sat next to her.

The stars were shining further as the rest of the sky darkened. It was getting somewhat late, or so it seemed. It was really only about 9:00-ish.

Being the younger one of the two, Beast Boy yawned first. For one reason or another, he felt tired. Perhaps because he'd been handling emotions for a while. Perhaps because he was just not in the mood for much after eating. Or perhaps because he'd played video games for several hours straight. Ah... that reminded him...

"Raven?" he asked, half asleep.

"Yeah?" she said, as if he made her drowsy. She was still looking at the sky, however.

"Could I... ever... ..."

"Hmm?"

"Show you... how... to... ..."

There was a pause.

"How to wha-" Raven started, then stopped, to see the green Titan asleep on her shoulder.

While it was never like her, somewhere in her mind she had to admit; it was pretty cute.

Trying her hardest not to wake him, Raven half used her telekinetic powers to lift him up gently, other half using her arms, and carried him back to his room. She put him on the lower bunk of his bed, and under his blanket.

Seeing him asleep this much was not only causing her to like him, but it was making her just as tired.

Apparently, the other Titans had had a long day as well, for the rest of the tower was pretty silent. Everyone was in their own room for one reason or another. Cyborg was on his computer doing who knows what to it, Robin was about asleep, and Starfire was in her room trying to figure out "Earthly beauty accessories," or in other words, jewelry and such.

Still, no one was out in the hall, and therefore no one saw Raven and Beast Boy. Which would probably be a good thing. Raven made one last look at Beast Boy's door, and she could hear his small voice softly snoring. That was enough to make her smile. With that, she returned to her own room, locking the door as she normally would, and went to sleep.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Beast Boy woke up the next morning, not sleeping in as much as usual considering he had fallen asleep a little early last night. Speaking of which, he was wondering if last night was real. The whole thing with Raven and both of them at night, comforting each other. And then just before he dozed off, he tried to ask her a question.

And then he remembered.

Considering it was still in the morning, he was reluctant to get out of bed. But he did anyway and walked in the kitchen (wherever the heck it was) to not only see if Cyborg beat him to making breakfast, but to see if Raven was awake.

Well, Cyborg wasn't there at the moment. He looked around the rest of the room. And there was Raven, in her usual spot in the corner of the room.

All he could do now was hope that what he thought happened did last night, and as we already know it did. So he somewhat quietly walked up to Raven, and looked over her shoulder.

"Good morning," Raven said in her usual tone. Beast Boy began to doubt the moment on the roof.

"Hi, Raven," he said, waving weakly. "Um... wasn't I asking you something last night?"

_Last night_, Raven thought as her eyes blinked and widened slightly. Those words brought back the entire scene to her. But instead of mentally going off into re-living the entire moment, she responded, "Yes. So... what was it?"

"Well," Beast Boy started, sitting next to her. He pushed his index fingers together. "See... as you kinda know, we got this new game and I wanted to um... show you how to play it."

She stared at him for a moment. "You want me... to play... your... video game?"

He nodded.

She sighed, and to Beast Boy's surprise, closed her book. His elf-like ears shot up a little in excitement. "Fine," Raven agreed. "Only because of last night. And you're not telling _anyone_ about that."

Beast Boy smiled. "Oh sure! Cause I'm sure people might make a big deal about it if they found out."

"Exactly."

So Beast Boy excitedly got two controllers and turned on the game. Both of them sat on the center of the huge couch.

Raven's car was colored dark blue and black while Beast Boy's was his usual green and magenta-ish. He was about to choose a track before he remembered; Raven probably had no idea how to play it.

"Um... I should probably say how to do this first." Beast Boy started. And he gave Raven the exact same speech Robin gave Starfire. The red button was the gas, the yellow one was the brakes, the joystick moved the car, and so on. Unfortunately, Beast Boy had talked so fast Raven only picked up about every other word.

"... and that one makes sharp turns. Okay?" he finished.

Raven blinked twice. "Um... yyyeah," she half lied.

Beast Boy looked back at the screen and picked a course. "All right! Let's play!"

And just as Starfire had done the night before, Raven finished exceedingly far after Beast Boy did.

"You'll get it soon, Raven," Beast Boy said.

"Maybe," she said, not from disappointment, but more from the fact that she never intended to do this often.

They resumed playing for another half hour, and Raven had improved some. Beast Boy even told her a few tips about a few tracks that he'd normally keep to himself. Things like shortcuts and the right moments to turn.

Of course, neither of them had eaten yet, which is why they were both tired of playing to quickly. Both of them felt like they could smell food.

"Ugh... I'm gonna stop now," Beast Boy said, setting his controller next to him. Raven did the same with hers.

And just as Beast Boy had hoped didn't happen, Cyborg yelled "Breakfast is all ready!" Robin set a plate of eggs on the table, Starfire following him with some cups of milk and such.

So _that's_ what the scent was.

"No!" Beast Boy said. "Dude, you made eggs! I can't eat that!"

"So why don't you simply make something yourself?" Raven suggested, going back to her emotionless voice.

"What are you guys doing over there, anyway?" Robin asked.

"Uh..." Beast Boy said as Raven put her hood back up. "just... playing games."

"Don't ask," Raven said, glaring a little.

Robin looked at Starfire, who returned the glance. Robin ignored it, while Starfire had already suspected something from last night. She resisted not to giggle at the thought of the two getting along so nicely as she followed Robin back to the table.

Beast Boy clicked off the game system, as the other four had already started eating. He sighed at the fact that everything was meat-related, so he took a glass of orange juice as he looked for whatever else there was. As you might expect, he pulled out some tofu and began to cook it.

- - - - - - - - -

Sometime between the evening and the afternoon, Robin and Starfire somehow beat everyone else to the game.

"Oh!" Starfire exclaimed. "So THIS is the button you push when you want to stop, correct?"

"Yeah," Robin replied.

"I am sorry that I do not understand it very well," she said, a little discouraged, "but I will learn it! I must! And when I do, I can spend more time with you!" She thought about what she just said, and then blushed a little. "I mean... if that is okay."

"I won't mind," he assured, smiling back.

The doors behind them slid open as Beast Boy walked in.

"I'm gonna be the first one to-" he was saying to himself as he ran to the game. His happy expression faded some as he noticed two people were there before him. "Never mind... can I play?"

Robin and Starfire nodded, and then Beast Boy sat a little distance away from Starfire. Or so it was a farther distance than Robin was, considering he was almost as close to her as possible.

Just as Beast Boy was about to grab the controller from next to the game console, a familiar pale hand got to it before him. He looked up and there was Raven, holding the controller in her right hand.

She'd tried to think of a good way to put this, when all she came up with was "May I join?" with a minor smile.

Beast Boy instantly grinned and nodded. He took the other controller and plugged both in. He sat close to Raven as Robin was to Starfire, and all of them chose their specially colored space ship-like cars to race.

Normally, Robin and Beast Boy would take the first two places, Starfire following, and Raven in last. Beast Boy would occasionally hint at a shortcut at one point in some tracks, and Raven grew better at it. It was only a half hour before they came up with an idea.

"Say, we've been playing this long enough," Robin began, "how about we just let them play, Beast Boy?"

"All right," Beast Boy replied, with a hint of reluctance. Although he _was_ wondering who was better at explaining games, as well as which one of the girls actually listened more.

Starfire and Raven looked at each other as if to mentally ask if they accepted the challenge.

As the girls raced, Starfire took the lead the first three times, and giggled from happiness after each. The fourth time, Raven managed to knock into Starfire's car enough times to break it. And the fifth time it was a close to a tie as possible, but Starfire was in first.

"Yay!" Starfire exclaimed. "I am victorious again!"

"One more time," Raven said.

Just then, Cyborg walked in.

"Hey, what are y'all doing?" he asked. He noticed the colors of the cars on the screen. "Uh... what are... oh," he had just noticed the girls in front of him, rapidly pushing buttons. He wasn't surprised to see Starfire, considering she'd obviously not only been the cheerful one, but she'd also played the day before. Raven, on the other hand, was someone you don't see playing games every day. He was going to ask her why, but he figured it'd be better not to due to the risk of making her angry.

It was the last lap, and Raven had barely pulled her entire vehicle in front of Starfire.

"All right, Raven!" Cyborg said, now sucked into the race with everyone else.

The nose of Starfire's car was nearly in front of Raven's, but then, Raven thought for a moment.

_"Oh, and then there's one trick," _Beast Boy's voice said in her mind, _"see, there's an almost invisible turbo boost just before the last turn... I only use it in emergencies so the guys don't notice often."_

And now seemed like a good time to abuse that. She just had to remember where exactly the boost was.

There was an incredibly thin trail of dust to the right side of the track. That HAD to be it. She rolled her car over there, and her car began to not only follow the small bits of dust, it sped up, just as expected. Everyone except Raven leaned closer to the screen to watch.

And at long last, without having to knock out Starfire, Raven finished first. Somewhere in her mind, she felt like "YES," but on the outside, she just grinned and laughed a little.

"You did it Raven!" Beast Boy yelled happily.

"Well," Raven began to say, "I couldn't have done it alone."

"That was fun!" Starfire exclaimed. "We should let Beast Boy and Robin play again! I think we are ready to race with them!"

"Okay, Star," said Beast Boy, "but don't say we never warned you!"

"Hey!" Cyborg yelled. "How long is this gonna take?!"

"Who knows?" Beast Boy said, as the four Titans had already started racing.

Cyborg just stared at them, already growing impatient.

"Man, I hope they release a Gamestation 3 soon..."

THE END

(Please review! And if you should, by chance, like Sonic the Hedgehoe (preferably Sonic X), please read my other story cause it's like.. better than this.)


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